Family members of the late chief of Kombo Central, Jerreba Bojang, have expressed concern over the decision by the management of Brikama Area Council (BAC) to relocate vendors from the old Brikama Car Park to the site of the former craft market.

They refuted claims by the council that the said site was government property, saying that it was their family property. They claimed that their father (the late Jereba Bojang) had inherited the same land from his parents.

Alhaji Jammeh Bojang, one of the late Chief Bojang's nephews told the Daily Observer, yesterday, that the land in question was used by the late chief as his tribunal before letting it out to some Senegalese, who used it as a craft market.

He categorically denied that the place was either the property of the council or one belonging to Brikama. "It is our family property," the old man said, noting that the council has no legal mandate to deprive their family of what legally belongs to them. According to him, the council has never given them notice of having any interest in the said land.

"We do not accept the decision today and we will not accept it tomorrow," the angry looking old man said. He concluded by stating that they had spoken to the vendors, advising them against relocating their businesses to the site, but they did not heed their request.

Buba Bojang, the eldest son of the late Chief Jerreba Bojang, said that after the death of his father, they had written to the council for the official transfer of the land to the Bojang Kunda family, which he said was done.

According to him, they had paid D3,000 for that transaction. "I don't know why they are now reclaiming ownership of the place," he noted. He said that when the vendors started relocating their businesses to the land in question, they (the Bojang Kunda Family) reported the matter to the Brikama Police Station, whom he said had not done anything.

He said that they then went to the deputy permanent sectary at the Department of State for Local Government, Lands and Religious Affairs, and then to the SoS, Ismaila Sambou, who told them that he had not received any information regarding the development.

"We are not refusing development, but the fact is that the way the council took up the issue was not professional," he said, suggesting that the council should have discussed the matter with them to reach a compromise. "They should have come to us in the most dignified and respectable manner," he argued.

Counter argument
Responding to the latest development, Sunkari Badjie, the chairman of BAC, countered the arguments, saying "as far as I know, the land in question is a council and government property."

He said that the said transfer paper the Bojang Kunda family was claiming to have acquired from them was signed by one Lamin Jammeh, a former chief executive officer of the council, without the notice of the council management. He revealed that Lamin Jammeh in fact had no legal mandate to give out lands in the name of the council.

For his part, Sereign Modou Joof, the council's public relations officer, said one Jammeh Touray (head of the Bulunda Clan in Brikama) had reliably informed the council that the disputed land was given to the government by one Fasaikou Dandanba Sanneh to serve as a voting centre in 1962, when voting used to be conducted at the Brikama Lower Basic School. PRO Joof said that according to Jammeh Touray, when the late Chief Jerreba Bojang took over the mantle of chieftaincy, he felt that he should have a court house and the council decided to build a tribunal for him at the land in question.

"After Chief Jerreba's term of office, the chieftaincy was moved to Kembujeh and handed over to the late chief, Sanjally Bojang, who decided to have his tribunal at his home, and  the council subsequently turned the site to a craft market," Mr Joof noted.
He went on to say that throughout those processes, the late chief, Jerreba Bojang was alive, and that he had never made any claim of ownership of the site.

He expressed dismay as to why such claims are coming when the government needs the land to establish a worthwhile project, referring to The Gambia government-Japanese Government Fish Market and Storage Project.

"The council would not allow the Gambia government to lose this project, for it is in the interest of the people," he vowed.

It could be recalled that vendors and shopkeepers within the old Brikama Car Park, who have been instructed to relocate their businesses to the former craft market (the disputed site) have been expressing concerns over the decision and have described it as a setback for their businesses.